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by Scott Lucas | Dec 19, 2018 | EAWORLDVIEW – Russia, Turkey, and Iran have failed to reach agreement on the composition of a constitutional committee to help resolve Syria’s 93-month conflict.The foreign ministers of the three countries, meeting in Geneva, signed an agreement in principle for a committee leading to “a viable and lasting […]

Turkey, Russia, Iran call for ‘viable, Syrian-led’ political process in Geneva DAILY SABAH WITH AGENCIES – ISTANBUL – 18 Dec 2018 – Published 7 min ago Turkey, Russia and Iran called for the launch of a “viable and lasting Syrian-led, Syrian-owned and U.N.-facilitated political process” after talks in Geneva on Tuesday, saying that a new […]

MESOPOTAMIA NEWS MIDEAST : DOES HAIFA (ISRAEL) BELONGS TO THE LEADERSHIP OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA ?

By Michael Wilner – December 15, 2018 21:25 – JERUSALEM POST – WASHINGTON – The US Navy has acknowledged that its longstanding operations in Haifa may change once a Chinese firm takes over the civilian port in 2021, prompting Israel’s national security cabinet to revisit the arrangement, The Jerusalem Post has learned.weiterlesen / click to continue

16 Dec 2018 – ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Polat Can, a senior commander of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has accused Russia of pushing Turkey to attack Manbij and the east of the Euphrates.

“Russia has frozen the campaign on Idlib because Turkey pledged to fight Kurds in Manbij and East of the Euphrates. Russia did it in Afrin and wants to repeat the scenario. Russia wants to benefit through many ways,” he wrote on his official Twitter account on Sunday.

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened an all-out invasion of the region where SDF and US troops operate. The US responded strongly to Turkish plans to attack the area, and so far, there have been no signs of a Turkish offensive.

“In Argentina, Trump told Erdogan they were working on extraditing Gülen and other people,” Çavuşoğlu said at conference in 18th Doha Forum in the Qatari capital Doha, referring to the G20 summit in Argentina from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1.

Overview – Iran is keeping a low profile with regards to the “Northern Shield” operation carried out by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to destroy Hezbollah tunnels along Israel’s border with Lebanon. The reports published on this matter in Iranian media largely focused on reporting on developments and touted the line adopted by Hezbollah that claims that Israel is deterred by the advanced capabilities of the organization.

In response to reports about Israeli strikes on Iranian targets around Damascus in late November, the spokesman of the Iranian armed forces declared that Iran does not have military bases in Syria. He claimed that the only targets Israel could attack are bases and positions of the Syrian military in which Iranian advisers operate, at the request of the Damascus government.

For months proponents of the UN Migration Pact told us that the pact was non-binding. The response to the many citizens of nation states worldwide having signed country specific petitions was that it was non-binding so there was nothing to worry about, it was going to be good.

The immensely opposed and disastrous document declares unlimited migration to be treated as a human right, thereby deprecating the term ‘illegal migrants’, and criminalises any criticism of migration as hate speech:

The points that raised alarm for most was that it seeks to eliminate all forms of dissent. Media organisations for example, should they criticise anything to do with migration would lose access to state funding. People would be labelled as racists or guilty of hate speech which will now be criminalised. This pact will literally erase our borders.

US policy in Eastern Syria is being challenged by Turkey as Ankara claims ISIS is no longer a threat and accuses Washington of shielding Kurdish groups it accuses of terrorism.

By Seth J. Frantzman – December 15, 2018 – In the wake of threats by Ankara to launch an offensive in northern Syria in areas where US forces are present, US President Donald Trump spoke with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday.

In the discussions, Trump reportedly urged Turkey not to launch a military operation in eastern Syria, where the US is working with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to defeat ISIS.The call came after Turkey vowed to launch an offensive in eastern Syria, with Erdogan on Wednesday telling an audience that “within a matter of days” an offensive would be launched east of the Euphrates River. “I am particularly underscoring that our target is not the US soldiers by any means, but members of the terrorist organization operating in the region.”

Turkey would make the area “livable” and return land to its “true owners.” These comments were directed against the Kurdistan Workers Party, (PKK) which Turkey accuses of playing a major role in eastern Syria.